Breach at Akash Beena's door for emergency exit

Golam Mostafa Jibon

A part of emergency exit door's raft in Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 Akash Beena, which was added to the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines recently, has been breached at the boarding bridge of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka creating panic among passengers.

The incident took place on Tuesday reportedly after an engineer pressed an inappropriate button forcefully. Following the incident, Mostafizur Rahman, a member of the plane's engineering unit, has been suspended.

According to sources, a preparation was underway for the 'Akash Beena' to fly for Singapore on Tuesday morning. But, the part of emergency exit door's raft got breached at 8:00am, when engineer Mostafizur mistakenly pressed an inappropriate button hard.

The raft has now become unusable as it has no option of repairing. After the incident, the severed part of the raft has been taken to the engineering unit to examine and find out the reason behind the breach. The plane was delayed by one and half hour on the day following the incident.

Mosaddek Ali, captain of the aircraft said, "We are trying to bring the part from London by next three days to replace the damaged portion. Besides, we have decided to carry 52 passengers less in the plane in each trip until the damaged part of the raft is replaced. It will be able to carry 271 passengers once the raft is restored."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 on September 5 and gave its name Akash Beena. Its first flight left the airport for Malaysia the same day.Biman authorities claimed that it was an aircraft with modern technologies.

On the other hand, authorities of the aircraft disagreed to say it a breach. Shoeb Chowdhury, chief of the flight safety said, the part of raft opened due to excessive pressure. But, there was no incident of breaking. Such incident may occur any time for new aircraft. Raft, even emergency exit gate may open due to high temperature. But, there is nothing to fear.

Sazzadur Rahman, director of engineering unit said, "Meanwhile, we have formed a probe body. Necessary action would be taken as per investigation report."

Shakil Meraz, General Manager of Biman Bangladesh Airlines said, "There is no problem to conduct flights even after detaching the raft's part. All the flights will be conducted in scheduled time."

It is mentionable that, at least 13 aircrafts of Biman Bangladesh Airlines are still active on 15 international and seven domestic routes.